I am Ecco
by vantid
Summary: Here Ecco speaks to the you, telling you how he feels and what he wishes. He is cynical and pessimistic, his sarcasm heavy in his words. He reflects on past adventures and experiences, all with a measure of scorn and regret.


I am Ecco. I had many names. I was well known and legendary. I have seen more on this Earth than any other beast, dead or alive. I have swum these oceans a thousand times over. I have drifted in the void that is space. I have coursed the tides of time. I am a warrior. Many battles have I fought, and many enemies have I overcome. The Foe and their queen, the hive of the Vortex and their queen…both did I triumph. Sharks feared my song, man dared not speak my name, and as for my own kind…I was dead to them. I left them behind to their own thoughts and jubilation.  
  
I am alone now with my thoughts.  
  
The Asterite is gone. The Guardian was not made to last forever. The empire of man and dolphin was doomed to fall as all empires do. Evolution, progression, and extinction have taken their toll on Earth's flora and fauna. There is nothing more that I fear, and only one goal I have not yet accomplished; yet, it eludes me no matter how hard I try to achieve it.  
  
I curse these stars! These stars on my forehead shaped so like the old constellation of god. But of course, I know better now. Time has shifted those stars, and one has disappeared all together, gone a brilliant flash so many years ago. I remember in my youth how people would stare at my forehead, wonder at the shimmering incandescence, like the rainbows of abalone, like mother-of-pearl. I remember how they burned, how they glowed and lead me places no dolphin should have ever been. After the Foe, people feared me. They dared not speak to the star brow, as if I might look at them and set them aflame. These stars created a lonely life for me.  
  
The sun hangs heavy and swollen in the sky. The hanging waters and aqua tubeways have long since fallen. It is cold now, and the white fire of an ancient sun dominates the sky. Stars wink day and night, and the moon has drifted off somewhere…I don't know, possibly to find a new companion, as its old one is tired and empty.   
  
All those I have ever know are dust. My pod, my friends and family are gone. Then long after them, Trellia, my love, and the other long fins, and not long after that, the Asterite, my last friend. I left it behind one day, and never returned. Eventually I could no longer feel its presence, and I knew I was truly alone. Every once in a while I will hear strange voices calling to me, young delphine voices singing so sweetly I will smile and turn, expecting to see the pod just over yonder. How cruel the mind is when it plays tricks upon the soul!  
  
I surface now. The ocean is still and quiet since currents no longer flow. The rotation on the earth has all but stopped, and the water and earth would broil away if the sun were not so weak. No songs shimmer anywhere, land or sea. I would like to think I am completely alone but I see strange white crabs now and then. I think those creatures will live forever. But I know better. They too, will eventually disappear. I know this because a see them less and less as time goes on.   
  
Death eludes me. Death is the one thing I cannot accomplish. I cannot drown, I cannot starve, and I will not wantonly impale myself upon a sharp rock. How messy. It has been eons since I was born. Eons are very very long…only three had occurred by the time I was born…the Archeon, the Proterozoic, and the Phanerozoic, each about 2000 million years long. There have four more since, and Earth is showing its age.   
  
Once a seaquake caused a tidal wave that swept me many miles inland, beaching me (how ironic isn't it…I was far from any beach). I lay there, a strange creature among these terrestrial beasts. I had hoped to die, but my body refused to quit working. So after days of resting upon land, I finally made a long journey back to the sea. Terran fauna has changed. No longer do mammals frolic in green grass. Strange insects and over sized worms bump mindlessly among thorny scrub. For some reason, they chose not to bother me.  
  
Immortality is not what it was cracked up to be.  
  
I wonder what will happen to me when this planet finally gives up its fight with time. It will remain a desolate ball, spinning erratically around the grotesque sun until the swelling of the sun swallows it up. As for me, will fire end my suffering? Will I be incinerated along with everything else? Only time will tell!   
  
Who is it that made me untouchable by death?! If I could I would go back in time and plead for mercy, beg to have this "gift" taken back. I would threaten and kill anyone to die. But I don't know how I am the way I am now, only that it is irreversible.   
  
Once, long ago, when life was vanished, an alien ship arrived. I spoke to them, telling them there was nothing for them here. They asked how is it you are here, and I could not say. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was when they left me here.  
  
I take a deep breath of air, and exhale slowly. The air is metallic and bitter, clean and acrid. An electrical storm gathers on the horizon. Its beautiful flashes of blue-white and great purple sheets are among the last of aesthetically pleasing phenomenon left. The auroras, ion storms and dog fire are other atmospherical delights that serve to liven up my otherwise dull life.   
  
Does it rain? No, not anymore. The Earth does not turn like it once did, and the only wind that blows are solar winds, powerful gusts rare and frightening.   
  
I say frightening but I am not really afraid. All fear stems from death. Whether it is the death of a loved one, death of an idea, or death of one's self, death is the root of all fear. I don not fear any kind of death. No, I welcome it with fins wide!  
  
The water is so still I can see my reflection. Do I look old? Yes I do. Scars mar my features, my stars have faded, and wrinkles pinch the edges of my mouth and ring my ear dimple. Only my eyes are still fiery and vibrant. They have stars in them, echoing an eternity of life and an infinity of time. But the fire is cold, the stars desolate and alone. I am alive, yet only just so.  
  
I slip below the waves and allow my mind to recede into the past. It's the only thing I have left to do. I return to days of warm waters, sparkling sunshine, and colorful fish. How young and blessedly naïve I was! When all of life was a great game frolicking below the waves with my companions, pestering the gentle whales, and taunting sharks from a safe distance. When the sun was still a small disk burning fiercely in the sky, not the vulgar behemoth it is now, swollen and ponderous. Life was a joy back then so long ago. But even then the stars upon my forehead set me apart from all the others. A sign of destiny! How exciting. The pod elders would whisper behind my back, saying strange things. I didn't care of course.   
  
Then the vortex came, great sucking fiends of death and destruction. When I found myself the only dolphin left, it seemed as if it were true that the winds of fate were sweeping me along to this maelstrom of life. So began my many excursions through time and space. I defeated the Vortex twice, after numerous journeys to and from the past and present. Not after the second triumph over the Vortex did we dolphins finally reveal our true intelligence to man, and, using Vortex technology, we rebuilt Atlantis and made preparations to travel the cosmos.   
  
It wasn't long before yet another alien race bent on usurping Earth's resources appeared. The Foe, as we came to call them, were a tough and wily bunch, but together with the help of the humans, we dolphins fought off these would be conquerors.  
  
By now I was in my prime, and my name was sung throughout the seas. The Asterite disappeared from common knowledge and in its place, the Guardian was built using ancient Atlantean designs. Only I knew of the Aterite's location. The metaspheres disintegrated, and the Guardian's ancient power of metamorphosis was used instead. So things changed.   
  
The Foe returned once again, much like the Vortex did. See how boring and predictable these chitonous fools were? Again it was up to me to save the world and defend the future. Again I went to different eras of time, this time to different possible future's, where I met such characters as Pilot and Mutaclone. I finally restored the true path of time, and no one has bothered with Earthly fauna since.  
  
So life went on. I first noticed my immortality when it became painfully obvious that while the rest of my pod was dead or dying, I was still strong and spry. One by one my loved ones and friends died away, leaving me to a younger generation that feared me as a god. For a while I entertained the position of pod leader, but it difficult to help those that fear you. Many would refuse to meet my eye, and all conversation would cease the instant I swam up. I had made my first acquaintance with loneliness, which would serve as a lifelong companion.  
  
I finally made up my mind to leave my kind behind and seek a new life elsewhere. But it was all in vain. Everybeast knew my name, my song, and of course, the damn stars. I even went as far as covering them up but no! The damned things GLOW and shine through even the thickest mud.  
  
Time rolled by in hours days and years, all driven by the spheres. A thousand years. A hundred thousand years. Dolphins evolved and I remained primitive and unchanged. Human left this planet altogether, finding more enticing things off planet. Good for them. What has happened to their species I will never know. Probably long extinct by now, or assimilated in some alien species, their genes mingling with the genes of some exotic race. All I know is that in their absence, dolphins took over. They…of course "they" and not "we" as I was not a part of them…took to the air, rising above the sea and developing gaseous organs that enabled them to float. Their fins and flippers elongated to compensate for air currents and wind. As their world expanded, so did their minds. They developed powerful telepathic abilities and could carry things with their minds. The Asterite also reemerged.  
  
Then I met Trellia again.  
  
During my encounters with the Vortex and my many travels to the future, I met an intriguing female dolphin named Trellia. She looked so strange to me back then, but still very beautiful. When we met again, she had no real memory of me, as the sands of time had erased all other paths and therefore it was as if I had never been anywhere. Even so, we somehow found one another again, although she did not know me, we somehow connected, and she and I became fast lovers. We shared many blissful, happy years together.  
  
Immortality is a curse.  
  
I watched her die of course. Not even the Asterite can stop nature. We could not even have children for so much time stood between us that our genes were no longer compatible. Such is life though, isn't it?  
  
Eventually the dolphin race stagnated and became extinct. Other races took their place and they too shared the same fate. Eventually the Asterite's power failed and I was again left with y old friend, loneliness.   
  
For the past couple eons I have spent my time alone, learning everything I could, trying to keep my sanity, at first. I gave up talking with the other creatures for their language is far too bizarre. These crab things at present don't even sing. I long for death to end my suffering. Or at least insanity to take my mind but neither will grace me with their gift.  
  
Right now, the barren rocks below flicker with the dancing water-webs. I nose the silt at the bottom, startling a few pale crabs from their resting spots. They don't even need to hide nothing hunts them. I stare at them for a moment, tempted to kill them, but the urge soon passes. I have killed many things to satisfy my anger, but it still burns deep inside, so I see no point in crushing a few senseless crabs.  
  
The darkness of an abyss calls to me all of a sudden. Having the uncanny ability to withstand the crushing force of deep water, I have ventured many times to explore the previously unknown territories of darkness. I made a few remarkable discoveries, but having no one to share them with, they remained trivial.   
  
However at this moment I begin to think of the volcanic vents far below. Could extreme heat finally end my suffering? I ponder this notion while I swim slowly to the edge of the abyss. I am so desperate for death! Without a second thought I descend into the trench.  
  
Down down down down. Miles and miles of seawater gather above my small body as I swim for minute hours. I sent sonar ahead of me, expecting to hit the bottom soon, but I am greeted by emptiness. Perplexed, I keep swimming for hours more, but still no seafloor.   
  
Suddenly, a small light catches my attention. Curious, I swim over to investigate it, but another small, winking light catches my eye. As I turn to look at this light, dozens more bloom in the darkness. Tiny dots of sparkling light unveil themselves before me the farther down I swim. They are like…like…  
  
Stars!  
  
Indeed they are stars! I am swimming in a sea of stars! How…how is this possible? In all my years I have never before experienced this phenomena!   
  
More stars flare, bright and blue, clouds of stars, voluminous and beautiful. I smile and laugh for the first time in I do not know how long. I am completely surrounded now by these cosmic baubles. Up down left right…all directions studded by jewels.  
  
A delicate pink and purple haze spreads below me…glowing from within. A nebula! Eagerly I swim to it, enveloping my body within its vast mists. A great white light pulsates below me…I cry for it is so beautiful! My eyes squint against its fire, but I race ahead, never stopping. Soon I have reached the light and I pass through it…and below me are the warm, flourishing waters of Earth as they were when I was young. I can see dolphins frolicking amongst the waves…my podmates, my friends…and Trellia.  
  
My heart! Oh my heart just bursts inside of me to see their smiling faces again! They do not yet see me; I must hurry forward and greet them!  
  
Oh Delphinus! My heart….my heart is exploding within me! Oh gods the pain! NO! My strength is failing…I am so close yet I cannot seem to swim any farther…  
  
Am I…am I dying?! NOW?! How can I die now when I am so close? After all this time…Trellia….you see me! Oh you can see me look how you fly to me!  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The body o Ecco the dolphin floated listlessly among the gently waves. Two young dolphins spied him and swam over to investigate.  
  
"Oh no Niatto, it's Ecco," murmured one.  
  
Niatto nodded. "Yeah well…the old dodger had it comin. They say he lived the life of three average dolphins. He was ancient!"  
  
"I know but still…he has always been around."  
  
"It is a shame isnt it? Well, I think it's all for the better anyhow, B'teel. Poor 'phin has been in his own world for years now, not talking to anyone, just sitting there dreaming his strange dreams."  
  
"Well, we have to go tell the others. First that storm now this…"  
  
"Yeah. Shame. Hey I hear that Caelsia is going to enter the races this year…" The sound of their young delphine voices faded in the distance as the two swam away.  
  
Ecco's corpse bobbed in rhythm with the sea, his body withered and gray. His eyes stared sightlessly through a thin glaze of death, his final journey having come to an end.


End file.
